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Lot Essay
Alfred Boucher entered L'École des Beaux Arts de Paris in 1869 under the instruction of the renowned artists Paul Dubois, Antoine Dumont and Marius Ramus. He exhibited at the salon from 1874 onwards, winning a Grand Prix at the Exposition Universelle in 1881 and 1900. Producing copious portrait busts, allegorical figures, groups and monuments in both marble and bronze, his work was characterized by a naturalism and skillful blending of romantic and genre trends. Fulfilling an exemplary career, Boucher mentored burgeoning artists by making models available and providing affordable studios in Montparnasse, called La Rotonde des Vins or La Ruche des Arts. Alexander Archipenko, Ossip Zadkine, Soutine, Chagall, Modigliani and Jacques Lipchitz, among others, were all recipients of Boucher's generosity, as was Camille Claudel, whom Boucher introduced to Rodin.
The present figure of Nymphe à la coquille is characteristic of the artist's early 20th century studies of sensual and erotic figures imbued with flourishes of the Art Nouveau. While many of his celebrated works during this period were deliberately unfinished in their rough-hewn state, here the female form is brought to full fruition. Boucher exhibited a near life-sized marble of this subject at the 1893 Paris salon (no. 2616), which was conceived simultaneously with a similar figure of La Comédie modeled semi-draped figure with a mask pressed to her cheek. The present example, at half-scale, is one of three known reductions produced in the late 19th century. The plaster model is preserved at the at the Musée Paul Dubois-Alfred Boucher, Nogent-sur-Seine and is shown in situ at the artist’s studio circa 1894 (fig 1.).
The present figure of Nymphe à la coquille is characteristic of the artist's early 20th century studies of sensual and erotic figures imbued with flourishes of the Art Nouveau. While many of his celebrated works during this period were deliberately unfinished in their rough-hewn state, here the female form is brought to full fruition. Boucher exhibited a near life-sized marble of this subject at the 1893 Paris salon (no. 2616), which was conceived simultaneously with a similar figure of La Comédie modeled semi-draped figure with a mask pressed to her cheek. The present example, at half-scale, is one of three known reductions produced in the late 19th century. The plaster model is preserved at the at the Musée Paul Dubois-Alfred Boucher, Nogent-sur-Seine and is shown in situ at the artist’s studio circa 1894 (fig 1.).